90 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
THE PLEISTOCENE OF KANSAS. 
By 8S. W. Wiuuiston, Lawrence, Kan. Read before the Academy December 31, 1896. 
Following the terminology of Dana, the Pleistocene of America has two well- 
defined periods, the Glacial and the Champlain; the former characterized by the ~ 
prevalence of glacial conditions, the latter by fluvial, by an ameliorated climate, 
luxuriant forest growths, and more or less submergence. The third period of the 
Quaternary, the Recent, is characterized by a partial return to the colder climate, 
the elevation of the land, the development of the prairies, and a drier climate. It 
is precisely at this time, that of the change from the warmer and moister climate 
to the colder and drier one, that we would expect the culmination of the more 
susceptible forms of life and rapid change in the flora and fauna. Cope has al- 
ready called attention to this change in an article that I will quote from further 
on. Every additional fact furnished from Kansas seems to substantiate his con- 
clusions that the Megalonyx fauna of the east and the Equus fauna of the west 
were contemporaneous, and that both occurred during a period of depression — 
that is, during the late Pleistocene time. It is strange that some writers should 
still follow Marsh in his location of the Equus fauna in the Pliocene. That Marsh 
does so is not surprising; since, as Hatcher has shown, he has confounded the 
Loup Fork and Equus faunas in part, and seems to be unaware of recent publi- 
cations on the subject. 
That there was a depression in Kansas during Champlain times is certain. 
That this depression was considerable, I do not believe, inasmuch as the river 
terraces in the eastern part of the state nowhere exceed 20 feet in total height. 
‘*The Equus beds are always to be distinguished by the presence of Elephas 
primigenius, when other forms less easily preserved are not recognized.”’ * This 
species is the most common fossil, or at least the one of which we have the most 
knowledge, in the Quaternary deposits of the state, and is the most widely dis- 
tributed; and the conclusion is, hence, that the Equus beds are the prevailing 
superficial deposits of the state, a conclusion borne out by the other vertebrate 
fossils that are known. That all of the forms given below were contemporaneous, 
is, of course, not yet proven; but I believe that they were. 
Cragin, in a recent paper,t has given a preliminary notice of three terranes in 
Clark county, which he wrongly ascribes to the late Pliocene. The lithological 
characters of these terranes are, of course, nearly worthless, save for local use ; 
and he has not yet given a critical list of the vertebrate fossils contained in them. 
The lowermost of these, which he calls the Meade gravels, contained ‘‘abundant 
remains of horses, llamas, elephants, turtles,’’ etc., some of which are ‘‘ Elephas 
imperator (?), Megalonyx leidyi, Equus complicatus, E. curvidens, Auchenia 
huerfanensis,’’ etc. Lying upon this terrane are volcanic ash-beds, which he 
calls the ‘‘ Pearlette beds,’’ and upon the ash-beds are the ‘‘ Kingsdown marls, 
consisting of yellowish-brown, lacustrine, or slack-water marls, containing vari- 
ously shaped concretions of carbonate or silicate of lime.’’ All these terranes he 
locates in the Equus beds of Cope. It seems to me that further and more care- 
ful study of the fossils is desirable before we assume as certain that the late 
Pleistocene in Kansas reached the great thickness of over 250 feet. 
The following list includes all the species of vertebrate fossils found in the 
Kansas Pleistocene of which I have any knowledge : 
*Cope, Vert. Pal. Llan. Estac., p. 75. 
+ Colorado College Studies, vol. 6, p. 53. 
